Great Escape / Alternative Escape Preview

Posted on 11/05/2015 by brightonmusicblog

In case you hadn’t realised, this weekend is The Great Escape festival, probably the most important musical event in the local calendar. There’s a few Brighton bands tucked in the main festival, but the bulk of the homegrown talent features in the line-up of the Alternative Escape – a sister festival that runs side by side where for most events you won’t need a wrist band, or have to shell out any money to see some fantastic live acts. There are literally hundreds of bands playing over dozens of events so to help guide you through the weekend here’s our pick of some of the BN postcode-based performers you can catch.

The fun begins on Wednesday night with Late Night Lingerie vs The Great Escape at Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar, where can catch the first of Demob Happy‘s many sets of the festival as well as Skirts last ever gig. Inspired Artists Agency who represent quite a few Brighton bands are taking over Latest Music Bar on Thursday, and we’re hoping to pop in for The Slytones at 2.55pm and Moulettes who play at 6.30pm. There are 20 bands over 28 sets on at The Mesmerist on thursday, on the stages put together by Liberty Music PR, amongst others. If we had to pick one it would be Phantom Runners who are on at 9.40pm. Bleach is being taken over by Strong Island Recordings and Pic & Vinyl on thursday, where Brighton Music Blog favourites Curxes take to the stage at 5.40pm. Over at London Road’s newest cafe Presuming Ed, Cate Ferris tops their line up. Miamigo play their debut show at Patterns (formerly Audio) at 6.45pm.

Brightonsfinest are in charge at Latest on Friday, and they’ve got a cracking line up. You could pop in at any time and see a great local band, but we’ll be popping in for GAPS at 2.45pm and Spit Shake Sisters at 7.45pm. The Mesmerist also has a pretty good line up, with Black Honey and Oslo Parks catching our eye. One of Brighton’s most written about bands at the moment are The Magic Gang, and they head up the DIY / Echochamp showcase at Bleach, playing at 10pm.

Moving on to Saturday, Earworm events and Northbrook college are hosting proceedings at Bar Rogue where we’re tipping Flash Bang Band at 6pm and newcomers Bloom at 6.50pm. The Fiddlers Elbow are having a street party, which is a great idea since I couldn’t get in to see the bands I wanted to last year. If I were you, I’d be down there for Yumi & The Weather at 4pm and Tigercub at 5pm. Marwoods Cafe are hosting some more gentle gigs over Friday and Saturday, but expect things to get a bit more riotous when Black Rooster Black Shag take to the stage at 8.10pm on Saturday night. Tyrannosaurus Dead play their last ever gig in Brighton at Fitzherbert’s a part of Cupboard Music’s line up. They’re only playing one more gig after that, and that’s in London, so expect it to be rammed. Hotel Pelirocco also have an all Brighton line-up – Time for T headline at 10pm, but get down there for 3pm to catch grasshopper who are fantastic. Bleeding Hearts are putting on a gig on Saturday afternoon at the Rialto theatre, which will be the first opportunity to buy headliner Clowwns debut album. It’s not an official Great Escape gig, but it would be churlish not to give them a shoutout. Finally, one of the very last gigs of the weekend is KLDSCP’s party at Sticky Mike’s which doesn’t even kick off until 1am. Mount Bank, who’ve put out one of favourite EPs of the year so far are playing, so hopefully we’ll still be standing by the time they’re on.

Record Store Day Spectrum at the Dome gallery, with Grasshopper, Object Object, Demob Happy , Delta Bell, Faye Houston, AK/DK, The Fiction Aisle and Foreign Skin

Posted on 19/04/2015 by brightonmusicblog

With the regular Spectrum events at the Dome being co-sponsored by Resident it was no surprise that they had big things planned for Record Store Day. We were up with the birds queuing up outside Resident, and we had other things planned for the day, so we didn’t get to see TRAAMS, Our Girl, The Academy of Sun, Ellie Ford, Robb Johnson, Merlin Tonto, Aaamouai, Bernholz, The Delta Bell or Elin Ivarsson. We did see Grasshopper, Object Object, Demob Happy , Delta Bell, Faye Houston, AK/DK, The Fiction Aisle and Foreign Skin though, and took along our camera to record things for posterity. Click on the pics to view large:

grasshopper video and live news

Posted on 12/01/2015 by brightonmusicblog

News has reached Brighton Music Blog HQ from the grasshopper camp. First up is a remix of Rico’s Revenge, taken from last year’s Circle Time EP. It’s been turned into a very cool slice of synth based krautrock by Def Stare artist Oban 2. Visuals in the video come from Innerstrings Light Show who have been making a whole load of Brighton’s gigs a lot more better looking for the last few years.

If you wanted to catch Grasshopper live (and trust us – you should), there’s two local gigs coming up. First up they’re playing at Northern Lights on Saturday, supporting Bleeding Hearts Recording signing Seadog. A little more impressively, they’ve also managed to grab a slot supporting The Charlatans who are playing at Worthing Pavilion on 15th March.

Weekend Gig Pick – 234 Festival at Green Door Store

Posted on 21/08/2014 by brightonmusicblog

Our regular Weekend Gig Pick post isn’t quite so regular these days, but when there’s something we feel you really must see we’ll make sure we tell you about it.

This weekend the Green Door Store are holding their second annual 234 mini-festival, with a mixture of talent from in and out of town playing over the course of the weekend. This year it’s moved from the first weekend in August to the Bank Holiday weekend to avoid clashing with Pride, but it’s still free to see the fantastic line up they’re putting on.

The music starts at 2pm on Saturday with an opening set from Grasshopper, and is followed by a host of Brighton bands who’ve graced our posts (and a number who haven’t yet). Keep an eye out on Saturday for The Hundredth Anniversary, Adolescent, Tyrannosaurus Dead, Demob Happy and Fear of Men.

Sunday hosts more of the out of town acts, but kicks off with the local post-folk act Rainslicker. Highlights for us on Sunday are Skirts, Winston & Goldstein and Spit Shake Sisters.

See you down the front.

Fear of Men Album Launch / Spectrum at the Dome Studio Theatre

Posted on 18/04/2014 by brightonmusicblog

On Tuesday Fear of Men launched their new album Loom with a gig at the Dome Studio Theatre. Loom is out this monday, but if that’s too long to wait, you can buy the limited edition coloured vinyl edition as a Record Store Day exclusive tomorrow. If even that’s too long, it’s currently streaming on Pitchfork.

The launch gig was the first of a new set of regular nights at the Dome called Spectrum, put on in collaboration with Resident Support on the night came from Grace Carter, Grasshopper and Abi Wade. Here’s our pics – as usual, click to view large:

New Music – IYES, Grasshopper, Hella Better Dancer

Posted on 16/12/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Less than ten days to go before Christmas and there’s still new music popping up for us to share with you.

First up is IYES who have responded to the release this weekend’s surprise release of a new Beyonce album by putting up their cover of Crazy in Love.It starts off threatening to be a slow piano ballad, but then 45 seconds in takes a turn a brings in glitchy drums and slowed down vocals – Much more imaginative that your normal cover:

Hella Better Dancer have a new video up. Sleeptalking originally came out in November (but somehow we missed it at the time), but the video is just up on Youtube this week. The single is available on 7″ or as download via Soundcloud.

Finally Grasshopper have new EP out. You can pick up a copy of the post-punk sounding Circle Time from Resident, or take a listen on Soundcloud.

Weekend Gig Picks

Posted on 13/11/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Time for this week’s regular post on the weekend’s gigs that have caught our eye. There’s some interesting this time round – an afternoon gig, a gig celebrating twenty years since the headliner’s first single, a gig accompanied by a Caribbean supper and more.

Tomorrow night we’ve spotted that P for Persia are headlining at The Hope. We haven’t seen them live for a while, having missed the launch of their split single with Speak Galactic, but the few times we have caught them they’ve been brilliant live. We won’t be missing this. Support comes from Fat Bicth and Headquarters.

On Friday night there’s a Beatbet vs Haha Fresh electronica night at The Globe. It’s not your normal venue for a gig, but then Beatabet aren’t the types to go about things the way you’d expect. DA-10 and Foreign Skin are on the bill, alongside Blue Ducks, Morgan Hislop and Hypnotized, and Beatabet DJs. Meanwhile, somewhere else you wouldn’t expect a gig Ez Stone is performing at The Writers Place at 9 Jew Street, at an event called Come Rhyme With Me. Alongside his gentle folk, there will be spoken word poetry and as promised above, a Caribbean Supper.

And then on Saturday Night, My Life Story perform at Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar. It’s twenty years and a few days since Jake Shillingford and his band released Girl A, Girl B, Boy C, which they followed up with a string of orchestral pop hits throughout the nineties. These days Jake is Head of Music Business at BIMM, although the band still get together for an annual gig up in London, and this is the first time in years that the band have gone on tour. Also on Saturday Night, Professor Elemental is playing at the Green Door Store, alongside steampunk visuals. He’ll be supported by Gilli BloodAxe and Invokal. If staying out late isn’t such an appealing prospect, then perhaps you should pop along to the Brunswick where they’re holding an afternoon gig from 2pm, headlined by Grasshopper, a band with talent that surpasses their years.

Drugs at the Green Door Store gallery – Grashopper, Bentcousin, The Bright Ones, Skirts

Posted on 20/10/2013 by brightonmusicblog

On Saturday night we headed down to the Green Door Store for live music night Drugs. There were originally five bands on the bill, but Twins didn’t make it, but Grasshopper, Bentcousin, The Bright Ones and Skirts more than made up for it. Here’s our pics. As usual, click to view large:

Weekend Gig Picks

Posted on 16/10/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Tonight we’re off to see Momotaro supported by Faux Flux at Above Audio, but before we do, here’s this weekend’s gig picks:

The big gig on Thursday night is Passenger. The Let Her Go singer is playing a sold out hometown gig at the Concorde 2 (actually he’s playing two, with the second next Monday, which is also sold out). Thursday’s other gigs which caught our eye were The Resonators playing at The Haunt, and Foreign Skin supporting Jungle at Sticky Mike’s.

On Friday night, Ancient Times launch their new single Nightschool at the Blind Tiger. Support comes from Shudder Pulps, Morning Smoke and Hot Glass. It’s also this week’s Brighton Rocks at Sticky Mike’s, with The Dials, Cat Fire Radio, 1914s and Broadbay on the line up.

Finally, on Saturday night, regular Green Door Store night Drugs returns after a summer break with a five band line up. For less than a pound a band, you get to see Grasshopper, Twin, Bentcousin, Skirts and The Bright Ones.